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To what extent can Macbeth be seen a a purely evil character?

Certainly by the end of the play, Macbeth could be said to be a purely evil character, remorseless and cruel. But he is not that way throughout the play. At the beginning, Macbeth is portrayed as an honorable Scottish thane, loyal to his kinsman Duncan, who rewards his loyalty with titles. But he is ambitious, as we see when the witches tell him he will be King of Scotland. Macbeth realizes he has "black desires" which he must hide from the world. And he believes that he must commit murder to fulfill these desires, which he does. But it is his wife that serves as a driving force behind the murder of Duncan, planning it, goading Macbeth into carrying it out, and smearing the King's guards with blood to attempt to implicate them in the killing. Macbeth clearly feels guilty about the murder, but it marks a crucial turning point in his development. He plans the murder of Banquo on his own (though he feels remorse for it as well, as his vision of the murdered man's ghost indicates.) Later, when he has Macbeth's family assassinated, he feels no guilt at all. He has become consumed by evil and thoroughly corrupted by power. So it is hard to say that Macbeth is thoroughly evil throughout the play, but he is certainly thoroughly corrupted by the evil deeds he commits, and thoroughly driven by ambition and the machinations of others to do evil deeds.

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